You know, I never wanted to be the Goblin King.
It all began when I was a wee girl, back in the 80’s. I’m fortunate enough to be a second generation geek – my mom was (and still is) a relentless reader of comic books and science fiction novels, who brought me up by making me read „The Hobbit“ instead of fairy tales and having me binge watch „Star Wars“ and „Indiana Jones“ with her. As soon as „Labyrinth“ was released – and available in Serbia on a pirated VHS tape – mom sat the lil’ 6-year-old me in front of the TV and said: „You’re going to LOVE this.“
Boy, was she right. I was mesmerized. I was pulled into a brilliant fantasy creation – and one that seemed tailor-made for girls just like me, smart, romantic and maybe a tad lonely, who dreamed up their own worlds full of marvels and struggled to make friends with “normal” kids their age. “Labyrinth” had everything that could fascinate the child I was: puppets, sparkles, games and riddles, goblins, fairies and talking dogs, cool music, castles and ball gowns, and above all a brave and likeable heroine who went on her own adventure and came back victorious.
So, so badly, I wanted to be Sarah.
Fast forward a decade. Even though as a little girl I’d learned the movie by heart, several years had passed before, around the age of 16, I had another go at my childhood favorite. And at sweet sixteen, “Labyrinth” suddenly felt like a completely different movie. It wasn’t about goblins and talking dogs anymore, it was all about HIM – this perfect man, androgynous but manly, dangerous but sexy, evil yet charming, wearing THOSE pants, and saying lines like “Just love me, fear me and do as I say and I will be your slave” with that husky voice of his. I melted in a puddle of pink fangirl goo. My breath hitched whenever he’d look at her with such longing in his eyes.
More than ever before, I wanted to be Sarah.
And I wanted Jareth to be mine.
During their final countdown, after the chase in the Escher room when the world started falling apart, Jareth offered Sarah not only her dreams on a silver plate, but also himself – and she refused. What seemed like the right thing to do to the 6-year old me, made the teenage Ferasha fume in anger. “How can you say no, girl,” I shouted at the TV screen, “when he looks at you like THAT!” If only I were Sarah, I’d never break the Goblin King’s heart.
Years later, well in my twenties, I learned to appreciate the importance of “You have no power over me” – and no, I’m not talking about the fact that, once you start thinking about it, the chemistry between the 15-year old Jennifer Connelly and the 38-year old David Bowie is kinda creepy. In a way, “Labyrinth” works as an antithesis of fairy tales written in the vein of “Beauty and the Beast” – here, in the end, the girl realizes that the monster is not a prince in disguise, and rejects his offer of a Happily Ever After if only she would give up what she holds dear. Turning him down is the rite of passage into a modern, liberated womanhood. That’s what makes this movie so great and so complex, whether you’re a child dreaming of adventures, a teenager squealing over a man in obscenely tight pants, or a grown woman who, pardon my French, doesn’t take shit from anyone.
Still, knowing that Jareth ain’t no prince charming did not prevent me from wanting to be Sarah, wanting the Goblin King for myself, or shipping the hell out of them two (I even read fan fiction. I did not tell you this.) Alas, as years went by, I aged – gone were the days when I could successfully pass for a girl on the brink of adulthood. Even for cosplay, I could not see myself in that frilly white dress any longer, no matter how youthful I appeared or how convincingly makeup could rejuvenate my features. At the ripe age of 35, I realized I would never, ever be Sarah.
Enter Csilla.
Csilla and I met on a convention in Budapest, in the early autumn of 2015 – I was Sephiroth, she was Cloud, she spoke fluent English in a country where mastering foreign languages is not so common, so we spent a portion of the afternoon taking pictures and talking about all sorts of geekery. Little by little, we came to conclusion that we both shared the passion for “Labyrinth”. Csilla wanted to be in Sarah’s shoes too – and she also wanted, oh so very badly, to have Jareth for herself. The main difference was that, unlike the good ol’ middle-aged me, Csilla was only 18.
It was in that moment that I realized that, if I cannot be Sarah, I can make one hell of a Goblin King.
Of course, as soon as I said the idea aloud, Csilla jumped at the opportunity, volunteering to become Sarah.
We agreed to wear our costumes in Budapest at MondoCon, their main spring convention, and so I started working on the Goblin King. I chose the black armor from his opening scene – an outfit particularly popular in the fandom, with its cape of rotten velvet and leather collar decorated with dry bones. The costume was both easy and difficult to make. On one hand, the crafting was not as complicated as it seemed at first, as a lot of hacks and shortcuts could be employed – ripping up cheap curtains to make the rotten velvet effect, using EVA foam for the breastplate and hot glue for decoration, and boiling actual chicken bones to cast them out of resin with the use of silicone molds. On the other, way too many little things went wrong with that costume, up to the point I almost gave up in one moment. It culminated with the wig that got lost in the mail twice and travelled for almost four months, before finally arriving on the very day when David Bowie died – which both gave me the strength to continue as I took it as a sign of His approval, and made me scared shitless as it added an extra layer of pressure. But that’s another story. The important was that, come spring, not only was my Jareth finished, but also pimped up and ready to be worn at international conventions.
Budapest, March 2016: as agreed, Csilla and I met at MondoCon. Seeing her as Sarah – youthful, plucky and simply gorgeous, with an uncanny resemblance to Jennifer Connelly – almost brought tears to my eyes. She was all I wanted to be when I was her age. So naturally, I had to do my best to play the perfect Jareth for her.
I worked on getting the body language right – the posture, the smirk, the tilt of his head, the way he puts his hands on his hips. I practiced the accent and the tone – the sharp way he pronounces his “s”, the husky color of his voice. I learned a simple contact juggling trick with the crystal ball. I memorized the movie quotes and song lyrics and slipped them into conversation. I acted a bit possessive and a bit seductive, holding her by the hand and wrapping her up in my rotten velvet cape. I knelt in front of her and offered her dreams in a crystal ball, and said I’d be her slave as if I meant it.
I gave her Jareth, all for herself, exactly the way I always wished to have him.
It was quite a crazy afternoon.
At the end of the day, when the convention was over and it was time to part ways, Csilla was all giggly.
“Thank you for this,” she said. “It was like the best date ever. It was a dream come true. I’ll really treasure this memory.”
And as for me, that concluded one of the best cosplay experiences of my life.
Not only because I made a wonderful young woman, who happens to be a fellow “Labyrinth” fan, very happy – even though the best and the most humbling feeling a cosplayer can experience is to bring joy to the fans of the character, to make them feel as if they spent time with the character made flesh, and not a person in a costume. The reason why I felt so ecstatic after that afternoon in Budapest was of a slightly more selfish nature.
See, as I said, I never wanted to be the Goblin King. I wanted to be Sarah and be WITH the Goblin King – but then I grew old, and that dream ended up far beyond my reach. Yet, by bringing the fantasy to life for someone else – someone of just the right age – and seeing how magical it was for her, I felt as if I was paying my dues to whom I once was. Almost three decades after I discovered the world of “Labyrinth” for the first time, and twenty years after I fell for that charismatic yet villainous man in tight leather pants, I managed to turn my own dream into reality.
Even if, for it to come true, I had to become that man.
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For more on my cosplay adventures, check out my Facebook page: ferashacosplay/
Official MondoCon pic of Csilla and me:
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Pics by Norbert Kis of EffigiesPhoto:
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Pics by Gabor Szolymossy of Phoenix Feather Works Photography:
